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Why Influencer Marketing is SEO Gold

December 2, 2016 By Tina Courtney in Featured Marketing SE Optimization SE Tactics

Growing an online presence is important, but lets get real about influence. Presence does not equal influence. Presence can be measured in social media followings. Influence cant.

Martha Giffen, owner of Best Kind Marketing, LLC

Youve probably heard quite a bit about influencer marketing by now; between the controversy of its effectiveness and Googles purchase of influencer platform, FameBit, and even a CBS 60 Minutes special, its everywhere.

But there are still many who are on the fence. In a recent gShift survey, 250 participants were asked if they use influencer marketing; 60 percent indicated that they do not leverage the practice yet.

Despite the fact that most every marketing budget today accounts for content marketing and SEO efforts, influencer marketing is still neglected by many brands even though the process amplifies both strategies.

Thats right influencer marketing is an SEO goldmine and an extremely cost effective one, at that.

Lets dive in and explore how leveraging todays social superstars can give your company a big boost in the SERPs and why you should hop onto this epic bandwagon.

Prioritized Content

Most digital marketing campaigns today revolve around content. Content is at the core of delivering an effective message that resonates with consumers.

Once content has been crafted, it is backed and promoted through e-mail blasts, PPC ads, social shares, and a variety of other techniques. The problem is, more times than not, targeted materials dont reach a fraction of the audience they were intended for. Most materials are produced, thrown into an endless sea of content, and quietly fade into obscurity.

Even some of todays most recognizable brands have trouble reaching their audiences. For example, Coca Colas engagement rate on social media is approximately one percent. Ouch.

By throwing influencers into the mix, however, targeted content gains a much more significant and engaging platform to be shared. And leveraging influencers often opens a brand up to entirely new and relevant audiences that didnt know the company existed.

What does this have to do with SEO?

When influencers share a companys message or content, they effectively lend credence to a brand. Those that receive the message essentially create a domino effect of conversations and shares that can raise an organizations seat in the SERPs; when there is a lot of buzz around a piece of content, search engines take this into consideration when prioritizing results.

But that doesnt mean seeking out bigger influencers is always better. One of the most prolific television personalities today, Jimmy Fallon, gets crushed in engagement from smaller influencers.

Connor Franta, a YouTube influencer with more than five million subscribers, engages roughly 800,000 more people per post than Fallons YouTube channel that boasts more than 12 million subscribers.

This shows that influencer followings are highly-devoted and will engage and share content on a level that is unprecedented; all it takes is the right partners.

A Backlink Bonanza

Ask professional SEOs in the game what the most challenging part of their job is, and most will say that it is link building.

Link building, a SEO must, has changed a lot over the years and has become demanding. Googles Penguin algorithm has ensured that backlinks must be of the highest quality. And influencers must meet Googles strict criteria too.

By recruiting influencers within your industry, you gain the ability to drum up relevant and reputable links in a variety of ways. Influencers can backlink to your content or site by:

Creating posts on social media that share your site or offering;Allowing for a company representative to write a guest post on their blog;Generating branded content, like YouTube videos, which include a link to your site;And a variety of other avenues.

The important thing to keep in mind is that any sponsored content that influencers create for a brand that has provided them monetary compensation is viewed as a paid link and will not be attributed to your SEO ranking.

In this case, it can be optimal to seek out smaller influencers on Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube that will create backlinks in exchange for discounts, free products, etc.

Organic Influence

This is possibly the most beneficial SEO-related reason to leverage influencers. Above content prioritization and beyond backlinks, social authorities have the ability to drive massive amounts of organic traffic to a website.

When influencers are utilized for creating branded content, they are often driving visitors to the brands website with the intention of making a purchase. Granted that your campaign generated a significant number of sales and a fair amount of reviews on those purchases, Google will then see that your website is a trustworthy and popular destination, giving your site precedence over others in the rankings.

When your site is able to make it to the first page of the SERPs, then the organic traffic really starts to flow.

Your Competitors Know This Too

Influencer marketing is no industry secret. Most anyone who is involved with marketing in some way is aware of the modality, and the innovative ones dove in years ago.

If your competitors begin to garner even a halfway decent influencer campaign before you, they are going to start crushing you in the SERPs, in awareness, and in sales.

If all of this is not enough to convince you that influencer marketing is worth exploring, do a Google search to see the immense results that have been produced through the practice. Look at Google directly and how it has entered into the influencer marketing arena. If you choose to ignore this discipline, you have a far greater chance of getting lost in the already oppressive, and increasing, noise of the digital world.

Are you ready to dive into influencer marketing? If not, what is holding you back?

Conscious online marketer, web executive, and multi-faceted writer Tina Courtney has been creating and fostering online innovations since 1996. Tina has assisted many clients in maximizing online production and marketing efforts, and is a staff writer forSiteProNews,one of the Webs foremost webmaster and tech news blogs. Shes produced and marketed innovative content for major players like Disney and JDate, as well as boutique startups galore, with fortes including social media, SEO, influencer marketing, community management, lead generation, and project management. Tina is also a certified Reiki practitioner, herbalist, and accomplished life coach. Learn more on LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+.